Recognition

HOORAY, YOU CAME!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Learn Portuguese with a Brazilian

One of the hardest parts of blending in and feeling happiness in Rio was not speaking Portuguese and my quest to learn the language. Until you have the experience of being 'without words' to communicate, it's difficult to understand the feeling of loneliness, of exclusion and the lack of connection.

I always, ALWAYS, encourage people to learn at least a little bit of a language before moving to any country. You will have so much more freedom if you do.

I took a Portuguese class before I came to Brazil, but it was nothing compared to the Portuguese I have learned while living here, learning with Brazilians. Learning with a Brazilian is the best way to 'speak Brazilian' - to understand the slang, the cultural references, the double entendres, the rules of society...

Whether you are moving to Brazil or already living here, language is the key to your freedom and independence. It's what will paralyze you on your weaker days, and give you the biggest sense of accomplishment on your strong ones.

Let me make your life easier and proudly plug someone very near and dear to my heart. His name is Rodrigo and yes, he is my husband.

Rodrigo is a Brazilian native and my best Portuguese teacher of all time. He can help you too. Please visit the page at the top of my blog that says "Learn Portuguese with a Brazilian" if you need Portuguese in your life (or if you need Rodrigo in your life, but if that's the case maybe we should talk first! *wink*)

But I don't mind sharing, if it helps you communicate better. It's true, without language you get really good at hand gestures and really, miming becomes a skill you didn't know you had. But miming only gets you so far when you're trying to understand social references, like Michel Telo's uberly popular song "Ai, Se Eu Te Pego" (Actually, I take it back. Miming is just fine for this song.)

Point is, if you need Brazil you need Portuguese. Rodrigo can help you.

P.S. He's cute too so you'll be getting a two for one deal, lucky you!

Hey Lindsey! Just wanted to drop by and say how much I like the new look! Really nice!

Also, I loved this: "It's what will paralyze you on your weaker days, and give you the biggest sense of accomplishment on your strong ones."

So true! I am taking a break from lessons for a while (which is ridiculously lazy of me), but I may well decide that I need to get back on it a little later in the year If so I'll give you guys a call :)

Tom thanks for leaving a message too! I am clearly horrible at responding to messages (because it's difficult to do on my phone and I'm usually out most of the day). I just wanted to make sure you knew I saw your post and glad to know you relate to the language challenges and successes!

All very true. My wife is Brazilian (and a teacher) and we did some lessons but I knew (given how bad I was at languages at school) that I probably wouldn't learn much until I got to Brazil. Am now on a 6 month course here in Sao Paulo so hopefully I'll be ok. I really want to learn and totally agree that without language you miss so much.

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